Carpet sweeper



2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

(No Model.)

W. J. DREW.

GARPE-T SWEEPBRF Patented Oct. 16

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(N9 Model.) 2 Sheetx-Sheet 2. W. J. DREW.

CARPET SWBBPER. No. 391,129. Patented Oct. 16, 1888.

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UNITED STATES PATENT Orrrcn.

\VALTER J. DRE\V, OF GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR TO THE BISSELL CARPET SWVEEPER COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

CARPET-SWEEPER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 391,129, dated October 16, 1888.

(No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, \VALTER J. DREW, a citizen of the United States, residing at Grand Rapids, in the county of Kent and State of Michigan, have invented new and useful Improvements in Carpet-Sweepers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to carpet sweepers, and the purpose thereof is to provide a simple, durable, and inexpensive combination of parts, whereby the brush-shaft may receive vertical adjustment at such times and to such degree as may be required, the mechanism whereby said adjustment is effected being at all times under the control of the person using the carpet-sweeper.

The invention consists in the several novel features of construction and new combinations of parts hereinafter fully described, and then specifically pointed out and defined in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is an end elevation of the sweeper-case, illustrating my invention. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the sweeper inverted. Fig. 3 is a detail perspective viewof the end band removed from the sweeper. Fig. 4is a detail perspective of one of the springs shown in Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a view showing a modified construction.

In the said drawings, the reference-numeral 1 designates the casing of the sweeper sup ported at one or both ends by drive-wheels 2. These wheels are mounted in the present instance upon shafts 3, extending within the casing 1, and in those machines having wheels at both ends it is convenient to extend the shafts the entire length of the casing and project their ends through the end walls to receive the wheels 2. One of the shafts 3 is supported by springs 4, mounted upon any suitable portion of the casing, and said springs normally press the shaft downward until its ends are arrested by the walls of the openings 5 in the end walls, in which the shaft has a limited movement in a vertical, or nearly vertical, direction.

Crossing each end of the sweeper-casing is a band or strap, 6, supported by the extended frontand rear walls, 1, and so arranged that it lies just outside of the drive-wheels and the driving-pulley 7 of the brush shaft, which lies between the wheels. Upon the inner face of this band or strap 6 is a lever, 8, having its fulcrum 9 upon one side of the center of the casing and provided with a seat or bearing, 10, for the end of the brushshaft. At or near its other end the lever is bent somewhat away from the band 6, and toward the end of the casing and in the portion so formed is a bearing, 11, for the end of that one of the driveshafts 3 which is mounted on the spring-supports 4.

The casing is propelled by a handle attached to a bail, 12, the latter being preferably pivoted to ears 13 attached on the same side of the casing as the fulcrum of the lever 8 and having stop-lugs 14-.

To limit the action of the lever 8, a stop, 15, may be formed. on its end and projected through an opening or slot, 16, in the band 6; but any other construction may be substituted which will produce a like result.

When operating the sweepers, downward pressure upon the bail 12 will depress that side of the casing supported by the shaft 3, which is carried by the springs 4, thereby lifting the end of the lever 8, in which the shaft 3 has bearing. This operation depresses that end of said lever which carries the journal of the brush-shaft and depresses the latter, the brush not only moving downward with the casing itself, but receiving also the additional downward movement imparted by the lever. The downward movement of the central portion of the casing is comparatively small; but this movement, together with the drop of the brushshaft produced by the lever 8, brings the brush into close contact with the floor and enables the operator to exert a sufficient power to remove any rubbish on which a sweeper is adapted to act. V

My invention, though shown and described in connection with shafts extending into or, when four wheels are used, through the casing, is manifestly independent of such construction, as I may use any form of support for the drivingwheels suitable for the purpose.

In carpet-sweepers heretofore constructed so that pressure on the casing forces the brush into close contact with the carpet, the brush IOO and case are lowered to the floor in unison and the casing moves downward to the same extent as the brush. For this reason, to suit different kinds of carpets or floor-coverings, the dust-pans must be placed farther from the lower edge of the casing than is possible in myconstruction, because in the prior sweepers if the pans were fixed on a line with or very near a line to the contact-surface of the brush with the floor-covering, the brush would be too high to properly sweep hard carpets or the cracks or crevices in rubber or other matting; but, according to my invention, a very limited downward movement of the s'weeper case effects, through the lever, considerable downward movement of the brush, and therefore the pans can be set nearer the lower edges of the casing, and hence nearer the floor than has heretofore been possible I or sweeping different kinds of floorcoverings.

It is evident that the lever 8 may be duplicated at one or both ends of the casing, as in Fig. 5, and in such case both sides of the casing will drop when pressure is exerted, and the brush-shaft will then be depressed by levers acting upon both sides instead of one. The springs may also be directly connected to the levers 8 instead of to the drivewheels, as shown at 18 in Fig. 5.

1 do not broadly claim a carpet-sweeper casing having spring-supported drive-wheels, the construction being such that downward pressure on the casing forces the brush into closer contact with the carpet, as this is covered by Letters Patent No. 233,731, issued October 19, 1880, to A. D. Plumb.

What I claim is 1. The combination, with the casing of a carpet-sweeper, of a lever fulcrumed between its ends, a brushshaft journaled at or adjacent to one end of the lever, and a drive-wheel journaled at or adjacent to the other end of said lever, substantially as and for the purposes described.

2. The combination, with the casing of a carpet-sweeper, of a lever fulcrumed between its ends, a brush-shaft journaled at or adjacent to one end of the lever, a drive-wheel journaled at or adjacent to the other end of said lever, and a spring for pressing the drivewheel downward, substantially as and for the purposes described.

Witnesses:

ARTHUR G. DEN-ISON, BIRNEY HOYT. 

